Wooden-head banjo



Oct. 19 1926. 1,603,380

J. FAVILLA WOODEN HEAD BANJO Filed Feb. 15, 1923 INVENTQR Job/z fwi/fa.

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ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 19, 1926.

JOHN FAVILLA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

WOODEN-HEAD BANJo.

Application filed February 15, 1923. Serial No. 619,084.

The invention relates in general to a banjo, mandolin, drum or similarmusical instrument of the type in which it has been usual to position avibrating head of skin 5 or other fibrous material across one edge of acylindrical drum and the invention partic ularly relates to an improvedform of head used in place of the customary skin.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a musical instrumentof the type outlined which will possess improved tone qualities andwhich at the same time can be constructed at less cost than presentforms of such instruments can be constructed.

Broadly, the invention contemplates the use of a head formed of a singlethickness of thin wood stretched so as to place it under tension on therim of the instrument. While attempts have been made heretofore toutilize wood as a vibratory member in violins and the like it has beenfound necessary to reinforce the wood by braces of different kinds. Thishas seriously detracted from the tonal efficiency.

Various other ob'ects and advantages of the invention will be in partobvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawings and in part willbe more fully set forth in the following particular description of oneform of mechanism embodying my invention, and the invention alsoconsists in certain novel features of construction and combination ofparts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is an enlarged plan view of the banjo constituting a preferredembodiment of the invention with part of the head broken away to showthe construction of the rim and Figure 2 is a transverse sectional viewtaken on the line 22 of Figure 1.

In the drawings there is shown a banjo of conventional form including abodylO 45 outlined by a wooden rim 11, from one side of which extendsthe neck 12 and across which neck and head are extended the strings 13.The upper or head engaging edge of the rim 1.1 is provided with arelatively deep peripheral groove 14 centrally disposed in the same andspaced from the inner and outer peripheryof the rim to form a pair ofconcentrically disposed ribs. The outer edge of the inner rib 1.5 isdisposed in a plane eds-Jet outwardly from lar edge of the outer rib 16as shown in Figure 2 and in other respects the rimcorresponds to thestructure shown in my Patent No. 1,405,771 granted February 7, 1922.

The head 17 is simply a thin circular strip of wood; preferably spruce,which is of uni form thickness and entirely free of. any projections,reinforcements" or other. parts which might interfere with itselasticity or introduce or tend to defeat its natural vibratoryfrequency. Normally the head is flat but when positioned in theinstrument, as shown in the drawings, a stress is placed therein bybending the same into a bellied form which is substantially the sectionof a sphere. The head is held in this position by confining the samewithin the outlines of a hoop 18 which engages and forces the peripheryof the head into engagement with the free edge of the outer rib 16 thuscausing the head to curve across the inner rib 15. The hoopis held inposition by the usual form of hooks 19 and brackets 20 secured on theoutside of the rim. The head is positioned so that its line of grainwill extend paralleL'or at least substantially par allel, to the lengthof the neck and in this way any tendency of the rim to split the head isminimized. A bridge 21 is positioned upon the head and is disposedbetween the same in the strings with the bridge extending across theline of grain in the head. This position of the bridge tends to minimizeany tendency of the bridge to crack the wood of the head.

Bythe use of a head of this character it is possible to obtain a softpleasing tone from the banjo and at the same time to construct a cheapform of instrument. It is further to be understood that these woodenheads can be readily cut from thin sheets which can be carried in stock,and if one of the heads should crack a new head can be readily replacedfrom stock at a small cost.

Having thus described my invention, I claim,:

1. A banjo provided with a one-piece all wood rim having an annulargroove in its head engaging edge to form an inner and an outerconcentrically disposed rib, the plane of the free edge of the inner ribbeing above the )lane of the free edge of the outer rib, a thin woodenelastic head. sprung from its normal fiat positien and extending acrossboth ribs of the Wooden rim and means for securing the head understress, said head being of uniform thickness and free to vibrate in allparts thereof within the outlines of the inner rib.

2. A banjo including a rim having an outer and an inner annular ribconcentrically disposed, said inner rib being higher than the outer rib,a normally flat, thin head of 'WOOd having a uniform thickness at allpoints extending across both ribs and a hoop encircling the outer riband bearing on the periphery of the Wooden head to force the same intoengagement with the outer rib and thus cause the head to be sprung intoa convex shape and so held.

3. A banjo including a rim, a thin head formed of Wood and bent out ofits normal fiat position, extending across the rim and means forsecuring the he'ad'to the rim.

4. A banjo including a circular rim, a thin normally fiat substantiallyrigid head having a high degree of elasticity extending across the rimand means for securing the head in distorted position under ten sion andin engagement With the circular rim.

5. A banjo having a rim, an all Wood elastic head extending across therim, and means for holding the head in distorted position on the rim.

Signed at New York city, in the county of 1 JOHN FAVILLA.

